Sensors:

Coral used a number of inputs and sensors to help the user navigate through the menu as well as play the game. Our project used three main components: an Arduino Uno, an Invensense MPU-6050 Accelerometer, and an NRF-8001 Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) module. The accelerometer transferred data to the Arduino using the I2C protocol while the BLE module communicated with the Arduino using the SPI protocol. Other components used include: a piezo speaker for playing tones and a 1000 mAh LiPo battery.

Accelerometer:

The MPU-6050 is a 6-axis gyroscope/accelerometer sensor that was the basis of our gesture sensing. The sensor records both the current direction of gravity as well as the rotational speed and position of our box. These gestures were recognized through a state-based sensing mechanism. In this, each side of our cube was given a state number that represented if it was the active side (facing upward). If the cube detects that a state change was made, it begins to record the string of states after it. In 1 player mode, this string of state changes is then compared to the provided string of states randomly chosen by the program to see whether the user entered the correct pattern.

BLE Module:

The NRF-8001 is a UART based BLE module that allows for serialized data to be transmitted between the chip and another BLE enabled device. In our project, this was intended to transmit gameplay data between an iOS device and our cube for a 2 player mode. However, it served as a means of debugging and game servicing. We were able to send commands from an iOS app to the cube to test various functions in the gameplay program.

Arduino:

The Arduino Uno microcontroller acted as the central processing unit for our project, running the gameplay program as well as managing all of the connections and gestures entered. It handled a various number or protocols, such as I2C and SPI to connect to the various sensors and components. The Arduino also served as the project’s power regulator, taking in 12V and stepping it down to a component friendly 3.3V and 5V.

LiPo Battery:

The battery used was a 1000mAh, 3 Cell, 12V HobbyKing battery. This battery had plenty of power to keep our project running for upwards of 15 hours of continuous use.

Piezo Speaker:

The piezo we used had a frequency response range of 30 Hz to 15,000 Hz.

Wiring Diagram: